Photo Journal – Loltong, Pentecost to Dickson Bay, Ambae
Busy Lolowai
It has been so busy here in Lolowai, we haven’t been updating everyone quite so much.
Jenny has been throwing herself into writing and has found a lovely spot on the deck of a tiny wee cafe that is situated to catch the breeze. It has been going quite slowly though, as there are many interruptions with the guys (new friends of Phil’s) coming down for morning tea and chatty visitors turning up for lunch. The cafe is run by a local named Fred and is positioned with a great outlook, which was useful to observe a bunch of the village guys unloading a small freighter that recently came in, by means of a longboat and a human chain.
Meanwhile, Phil has been flat out with a number of building projects. He has fixed plumbing and installed new stainless medical benches. He has also redone some spouting and downpipe systems connecting to water tanks. This included repairing a cement tank built by NZ Armed Forces in 1994.
There are two large yachts in the bay at the moment, one from Australia and the other from Germany. We had sundowner drinks onboard the Australians boat from 5pm until 8.30pm. They have a quality French wine onboard which we are discovering is quite normal in Vanuatu.
Lolowai Hospital
Phil has been itching to get to Lolowai since leaving NZ. We know a Kiwi couple who are retired and have been involved (aloing with a number of others) in upgrading the hospital here, a project between the NZ and Bundaburg Rotary club. As is the norm, the hospital is not big at all (having approx. seven beds and covering a broad number of health malidies for every age group). Our friend Sam (one half of the aforementioned Kiwi couple) gave us a tour of the place when we first got her before Phil happily launched himself into ditch digging and plumbing jobs. We then had lunch with the building team at Torgil in the tech training centre. Also: showers (make the most of them wherever you can).
Lolowai is the perfect anchorage and is the top of an underwater volcano, the crater of which creates a lovely sheltered bay.
We’re likely to stop here for a few days and do some work around the place (it is always useful having building skills). We are both loving this lifestyle and are getting more and more tanned by the day.